After reviewing their latest and greatest, High Power Moves, I thought it might be a good idea to interview these two. . . they have made what is, in my opinion, a pretty amazing first LP together, and I just thought you might want to know a bit more about them. . . or not, whatever.
Tell us about who you are, where you are from, and all that bullshit…
H: I go by the name of Hawdwerk, emcee based out of West Covina, Ca. My friend Kawnflixx gave me the name. He's from Jersey, hence the East coast drawl; "hawd" instead of hard. I've been rapping actively for about 3-4 years, writing for about 14 years and finally decided to follow my dream, cliche but I'm a lot happier now.
J: I'm Jansport J, from the lesser known Covina, CA...about 5 min from West Covina. How ironic. I'm the producer. Basically I make beats, send emails, and tweet a lot.
How did you two come together? Conceptually, how does it work?
H: I met Jansport through a mutual friend "Funklogik" from my crew the "Cov Originals". He sent us some tracks for his project "Carry-on Experience" pretty much every track we did made the cut. After that he sent me beats for my solo project, which was takin a rocky start, and it just kinda developed into us workin on a rapper+producer colllab album. We have a mutual respect for each other as artists, and he arranges his production a lot differently than ... all the producers I've worked with, which made it easy for me lyrically because he doesn't sound like anyone else. I just listen to the beats and then write around the production... in other words I let the beat tell the story and I just narrate it vocally. We've never had a conceptual conflict. *knocks on wood*
J: Yessir, every time we collaborated on a track dating back to my compilation album in Sept 08, we had great chemistry. His lyricism was providing the exact vision I had for the beat, which as a producer, I can say rarely happens. It's usually a give-and-take of creative ideas when working with an artist, but it always seemed as if Hawdwerk and I were on the same page. It also helped that we are both goofy and crack jokes 24/7.
The LP title, High Power Moves. . . explain it.
H: Basically when we started workin on the project we wanted to make the dopest shit anyones ever heard.... honestly. I came up with the title after Jansport said "its gotta be somethin that says we're here and there's nothing you can do about it" I say "I want it to sound like we hit you upside the head and while you're dazed and confused ... we rob you" ... titles pretty fitting.
J: Yep, this was a statement album. It was about making our mark as Hawdwerk & Jansport J. There is a ton of dope music coming out of LA in particular, and we felt like our sound and angle we provide was missing. I respected him immensely as an artist, and he felt the same about our production. With us being from the same area and having a similar ambitious mindset, we figured we could make these "high power moves" together.
Who are your influences, both as a group and individually?
H: I don't think we have any influences as a unit. It’s easy to compare us to a “Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth" or "Self Scientific" (Chace Infinite and DJ Khalil) based off of the rapper+producer concept, but we never really set out to be the next duo... we just became one. Personally I'm influenced by DJ Quik, Xzibit, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Black Thought, Kurupt, Strong Arm Steady, Planet Asia, Nas, and a long list of others for various reasons. Surprisingly I've had people compare me to Del the Funky Homosapien, Tupac, and Chamillionaire ... CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD COMPLETELY but its great cause it means I'm doin what I want to do and not be seen as "that kind of artist".
J: There are 4 in particular that I’m heavily influenced by: Dilla, 9th Wonder, Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Although I'm no longer the biggest fan, Timbaland was the sole reason I ever wanted to be a producer. I use to ride around with my Dad when I was 13 listening to "Welcome to our World" and trying to mimic the drum patterns with my hands and lap. As a duo, not to sound like a prick, but I think our own personalities and talents influence us. The way Hawdwerk is able to convey his personality 100% through his lyricism is influential. We want people to hear our music, and feel like they know us when they meet us. Not be surprised by the individuals they meet.
What do you want to become in terms of music? What do you NOT want to become? Why?
H: I want to be respected as a lyricist and make a living. The fame and fortune sounds nice but not at the cost of my artistry or moral and personal stands. Music is life so my music isn't always squeaky clean nor is it always raunchy, at the end of the day it’s all bullshit and I make it sound good, haha. I’d hate to be the next "remember that guy". But I can only go as far as God allows me, as long as I keep gettin right with him, and steadily workin on my craft, I’ll be successful.
J: All I want from music is to continue to make honest, quality music, and to make a living off of it. Whether that be 100k per beat one day, or 35k per year. I want music to be my full-time profession. I also look forward to seeing like artists like Hawdwerk flourish so I can make a lot of money off of them and trick like I got it.
H: I go by the name of Hawdwerk, emcee based out of West Covina, Ca. My friend Kawnflixx gave me the name. He's from Jersey, hence the East coast drawl; "hawd" instead of hard. I've been rapping actively for about 3-4 years, writing for about 14 years and finally decided to follow my dream, cliche but I'm a lot happier now.
J: I'm Jansport J, from the lesser known Covina, CA...about 5 min from West Covina. How ironic. I'm the producer. Basically I make beats, send emails, and tweet a lot.
How did you two come together? Conceptually, how does it work?
H: I met Jansport through a mutual friend "Funklogik" from my crew the "Cov Originals". He sent us some tracks for his project "Carry-on Experience" pretty much every track we did made the cut. After that he sent me beats for my solo project, which was takin a rocky start, and it just kinda developed into us workin on a rapper+producer colllab album. We have a mutual respect for each other as artists, and he arranges his production a lot differently than ... all the producers I've worked with, which made it easy for me lyrically because he doesn't sound like anyone else. I just listen to the beats and then write around the production... in other words I let the beat tell the story and I just narrate it vocally. We've never had a conceptual conflict. *knocks on wood*
J: Yessir, every time we collaborated on a track dating back to my compilation album in Sept 08, we had great chemistry. His lyricism was providing the exact vision I had for the beat, which as a producer, I can say rarely happens. It's usually a give-and-take of creative ideas when working with an artist, but it always seemed as if Hawdwerk and I were on the same page. It also helped that we are both goofy and crack jokes 24/7.
The LP title, High Power Moves. . . explain it.
H: Basically when we started workin on the project we wanted to make the dopest shit anyones ever heard.... honestly. I came up with the title after Jansport said "its gotta be somethin that says we're here and there's nothing you can do about it" I say "I want it to sound like we hit you upside the head and while you're dazed and confused ... we rob you" ... titles pretty fitting.
J: Yep, this was a statement album. It was about making our mark as Hawdwerk & Jansport J. There is a ton of dope music coming out of LA in particular, and we felt like our sound and angle we provide was missing. I respected him immensely as an artist, and he felt the same about our production. With us being from the same area and having a similar ambitious mindset, we figured we could make these "high power moves" together.
Who are your influences, both as a group and individually?
H: I don't think we have any influences as a unit. It’s easy to compare us to a “Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth" or "Self Scientific" (Chace Infinite and DJ Khalil) based off of the rapper+producer concept, but we never really set out to be the next duo... we just became one. Personally I'm influenced by DJ Quik, Xzibit, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Black Thought, Kurupt, Strong Arm Steady, Planet Asia, Nas, and a long list of others for various reasons. Surprisingly I've had people compare me to Del the Funky Homosapien, Tupac, and Chamillionaire ... CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD COMPLETELY but its great cause it means I'm doin what I want to do and not be seen as "that kind of artist".
J: There are 4 in particular that I’m heavily influenced by: Dilla, 9th Wonder, Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Although I'm no longer the biggest fan, Timbaland was the sole reason I ever wanted to be a producer. I use to ride around with my Dad when I was 13 listening to "Welcome to our World" and trying to mimic the drum patterns with my hands and lap. As a duo, not to sound like a prick, but I think our own personalities and talents influence us. The way Hawdwerk is able to convey his personality 100% through his lyricism is influential. We want people to hear our music, and feel like they know us when they meet us. Not be surprised by the individuals they meet.
What do you want to become in terms of music? What do you NOT want to become? Why?
H: I want to be respected as a lyricist and make a living. The fame and fortune sounds nice but not at the cost of my artistry or moral and personal stands. Music is life so my music isn't always squeaky clean nor is it always raunchy, at the end of the day it’s all bullshit and I make it sound good, haha. I’d hate to be the next "remember that guy". But I can only go as far as God allows me, as long as I keep gettin right with him, and steadily workin on my craft, I’ll be successful.
J: All I want from music is to continue to make honest, quality music, and to make a living off of it. Whether that be 100k per beat one day, or 35k per year. I want music to be my full-time profession. I also look forward to seeing like artists like Hawdwerk flourish so I can make a lot of money off of them and trick like I got it.
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